Az-Zumar · Makki · ayah 17 of 75

Az-Zumar 39:17

وَٱلَّذِينَ ٱجْتَنَبُوا۟ ٱلطَّـٰغُوتَ أَن يَعْبُدُوهَا وَأَنَابُوٓا۟ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ لَهُمُ ٱلْبُشْرَىٰ ۚ فَبَشِّرْ عِبَادِ

“But those who have avoided ṭāghūt,[1346] lest they worship it, and turned back to Allāh - for them are good tidings. So give good tidings to My servants”

Saheeh International

Essence

Those who keep every false god at arm's length and turn back to Allah receive good news that shows on the face.

A reflection

The river that leaves its banks

Ṭāghūt is one of the Quran's strongest words, and the first hearers heard water in it. The Arabs said a torrent ṭaghā when it came down with more water than its bed could hold. The sea ṭaghā when its waves rose and heaved. The Quran uses the verb for Nuh's flood: when the water overflowed, We carried you (69:11). Water is a blessing within its banks. Once it leaves them, it drowns.

The commentaries also dwell on the word's shape. One notes three intensifications. It is a verbal noun used as a name, as though the thing were transgression itself. Its pattern, faʿalūt, is a pattern of excess, like raḥamūt, vast mercy, and malakūt, vast dominion. And two of its letters are swapped round, a change that marks the word out as belonging to one thing only.

What is the ṭāghūt? Several early authorities said Shaytan. Others said the idols. One commentary resolves it: whatever is worshipped and obeyed in place of Allah is ṭāghūt. Another lexicon adds the sorcerer, the soothsayer, and anything that turns people from good.

Picture a river in a farming valley. For years it waters the orchards. Children swim in it in summer. Then one autumn the rain does not stop, and the river rises past its banks. It takes fences, cars, a footbridge, the ground floor of the school.

Most ṭāghūt in a modern life began as something good: a career, a cause, a relationship, a screen. The danger comes when it spills over its bed and starts to demand what belongs only to Allah. The ayah does not tell us to hate rivers. It tells us to stand clear of the flood.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.